Variable-information (VI) printing is a form of on-demand printing in which elements such as text, graphics and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next without stopping or slowing down the printing process, using information from a database or external file. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter. Variable data printing is often used for direct marketing, customer relationship management and advertising and invoicing.
In printing systems, print job ticketing can drive data-driven customization using digital technologies for VI printing. The VI printing techniques can allow for document personalization and range from varying text elements such as name and address, to varying graphics, images and page layouts for each recipient of such document. Personalized VI printing can be done, for example, by overprinting preprinted shells, or through a single pass using digital production color equipment. VI printing can enable, for example, the production of different versions of books and/or customized books within a single press run. VI printings can also provide customized information in the form of an address label, and personalized information or the like on the inside or outside of finished books. VI printing techniques can therefore greatly enhance the functionality and capabilities of printing systems.
A job ticket contains instructions for the printing of one or more specification files. The specification files can use a page description language, such as postscript, to describe a document or part of a document. When a VI PDL is used to describe the document, the values of certain data fields can be supplied by the job ticket or by another PDL file. A digital front end (DFE) can process the job ticket and submit data to a rendering device, such as a printer, that then produces the desired document. Those practiced in that art of variable instruction processing are familiar with PDLs, PDL files, and job tickets.
Most VI printing systems lack the capacity to completely control how a VI PDL is printed. This generally results from an unclear delineation of a VI data stream's structural hierarchy. In many cases, this lack of control is an inherent property of the PDL. For example Native mode variable intelligent personalized PostScript VIPP does not provide the ability to address individual records in a VI PDL. Other PDLs, in particular newer VI PDLs such as personalized print markup language (PPML), provide greater structural granularity within the VI PDL. The systems that understand these PDLs, however, do not take advantage of the level of control that newer PDLs potentially offer. If there is a need to finely control how a PDL is printed, the onus is placed on the VI emitter to generate the required VI PDL. Although workable, the VI authoring application must understand production requirements when creating PDLs. Production flexibility is therefore eliminated and any change in production requires problematic re-generation of a potentially large VI PDL.
A need therefore exists for improved methods and systems for finely controlling the processing of job ticketed PDL files.